The Arnold Schönberg Center, established in 1998 in Vienna, is an unique repository of Arnold Schönberg’s archival legacy and a cultural center that is open to the public.

Arnold Schönberg – composer, painter, teacher, theoretician and innovator – was born in Vienna in 1874 and died in Los Angeles in 1951. He also resided in Berlin, Barcelona, Paris and Boston. In music history Schönberg’s name is associated with an epoch-making innovation: the “Method of composing with twelve tones which are related only with one another.”

Exhibitions on Schönberg’s life and work, a gallery of his paintings, a replica of his Los Angeles study, a library on topics relating to the Viennese School, as well as concerts, lectures, workshops and symposia all contribute to a comprehensive experience that will enable the visitor to better understand Schönberg’s contributions to music and the arts.

Activities at the Center are geared not only to the dedicated scholar but also to the general public. Professional assistance is granted for examining and studying Schönberg’s music manuscripts, writings and his correspondence. Scholarly results of the Center’s symposia are being published through the periodical “Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center.” A museum shop includes publications in various languages, scores and both current and historic recordings of Schönberg’s works.

Arnold Schönberg’s legacy remained in the possession of his heirs after his death in 1951 and was administered by his widow Gertrud Schönberg until 1967. In the 70s, Schönberg’s heirs decided to make the collection available to the Arnold Schönberg Institute of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where a modern archive was established along with a concert hall and an exhibition hall. That archive was open to the public until 1997. Leonard Stein, who had studied with Schönberg, was the director of the Institute. During its 25-year history, the Institute was consulted by thousands of researchers, artists, students and music-lovers. Between 1975 and 1993 the “Friends of the Arnold Schönberg Institute” organized numerous activities at the Institute.

Towards the end of this period, the University of Southern California felt it could no longer fulfill the condition of Schönberg’s heirs that the Institute and archive be limited exclusively to research and studies about Arnold Schönberg, triggering off a legal battle between them and the University in 1996. Many cities, universities and private people were interested in giving the orphaned collection a new home: New York, Vienna, Berlin, Den Haag, Basel, Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Arizona and even in Los Angeles, the Getty Center and the University of California at Los Angeles.

Vienna, as the city that Schönberg was born in and the birthplace and namesake of the Viennese School, was chosen: in early 1997 the Arnold Schönberg Center Privatstiftung was founded by the City of Vienna together with the Internationale Schönberg Gesellschaft. The purposes of the Foundation include establishing the Arnold Schönberg Archives (legacy) in Vienna, its maintenance and preservation, the education of the public with regard to Schönberg's interdisciplinary artistic influence, as well as teaching and publicizing Schönberg's contributions to music and other achievements. The purposes of the Foundation shall be achieved by making the Schönberg legacy accessible and available for scholarly study and research by scholars, composers, musicians, and the general public; regularly organizing exhibitions, concerts, and other events; holding symposia and conferences devoted to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg; exhibiting paintings and drawings by Arnold Schönberg, which have been made available to the Foundation by their owners as a long-term loan.

After the collection was moved from Los Angeles and the Schönberg Center was opened in March 1998, the archive was made available to researchers, composers, musicians and the general public. The collection contains approximately 9.000 pages of musical manuscripts, 6.000 pages of text manuscripts, 3.500 historical photos as well as personal documents, diaries, concert programmes, his entire library (music, books and recordings) and a replica of Schönberg’s study in Los Angeles. Almost all of the original manuscripts and other Schönbergiana that are not a part of the collection are nevertheless available in copies or on microfilm at the Center. The Center’s reference library also offers visitors one of the most complete collections of literature concerning the (Second) Viennese School in the world.

In March, 1997, as one of its founders, the International Schönberg Society deeds Arnold Schönberg’s residence in Mödling (1918-1925) to the newly founded Arnold Schönberg Center Private Foundation. The house, which is a living monument for the intellectual activity of Schönberg’s Viennese circle, contains a museum (open to the public since September 1999).

Transferring the Arnold Schönberg Institute and the complete contents thereof from the University of Southern California to the premises of the Foundation (in Vienna) and the use thereof for the purposes set forth herein, as well as the acquisition and preservation of other materials that relate to Arnold Schönberg;

Making the Schönberg estate accessible and available for scholarly study and research by scholars, composers, musicians, and the general public;

Encouraging public understanding of music theory, particularly the style and methods of Arnold Schönberg;

Teaching, researching, and further educating musicians, scholars, and the public at large, in cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, as well as with other research and teaching institutions, insofar as these educational activities are related to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg;

Distributing, providing access to, and furthering understanding of interdisciplinary works of Schönberg for the public at large as well as the scholarly and musical communities;

Cataloguing and scholarly application of the archival and research materials relating to Arnold Schönberg, and the making available of finding aids in written, electronic and other forms by means of the latest technologies (especially in cooperation with the Vienna Stadt- und Landesbibliothek, the Vienna Stadt- und Landesarchiv, the Austrian National Library, as well as other archives and libraries);

Regular organization of exhibitions, concerts, and other events, without respect to geographical location, so long as these events are related to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg;

Holding symposia and conferences that are devoted to the life and to the work of Arnold Schönberg;

Analyzing the most recent artistic trends that relate to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg; Regularly awarding an international Arnold Schönberg prize;

Regularly awarding Arnold Schönberg scholarships for research projects that relate to the life and to the work of Arnold Schönberg;

Cooperating with the Arnold Schönberg Gesamtausgabe, as well as with the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift; Cooperating internationally with orchestras, museums, schools, universities, publishing houses, festivals, and similar organizations, so long as such cooperation is related to the life and work of Arnold Schönberg;

Exhibiting the paintings and drawings by Arnold Schönberg, which may be made available to the Foundation by other owners as long-term loan.